It’s hardly the biggest crisis facing Illinois – or anywhere else, for that matter – but in terms of issues state lawmakers can effectively address, it might be time to start getting concerned about the continually escalating vacancy rate of office space statewide.

Again, setting aside the obvious reality, this isn’t a human rights concern. A Friday report in Crain’s Chicago Business, quoting the Jones Lang LaSalle real estate firm, said the suburban office vacancy rate is 32.9%, another record high, just like each quarterly report of the last five years. The pre-COVID rate was 22.1%.

While this remains primarily a private sector problem, it doesn’t feel far away from plummeting property values that will definitely affect local government tax revenue. There’s also the matter of what to do with these giant buildings unwanted for their intended purpose. Updating zoning is one thing, physically adapting or removing structures is another. And then it becomes time to revisit infrastructure like transportation and public services.

When vacancies begin to tank city and school budgets, Springfield will need to be involved in solutions.

TAXES TOO: The Jan. 20 column (“Clerks encouraging absentee voters to advance mail-in timelines”) drew a helpful response from Will County Treasurer Tim Brophy:

“Another coming headache for taxpayers and county treasurers will be caused by the USPS change in how/when they apply the postmark. The back of the Will County property tax bills will include a warning to get ‘same day’ or ‘manual’ postmarks if sending payments on or near the due dates. I’m predicting more than usual payments considered ‘late’ due to the change.”

The message grows clearer: if you’re relying on a postmark to verify anything, don’t leave anything to chance.

WHY NOT? While catching up on CapitolFax.com blog posts last week, I encountered a comment from “47th Ward,” who suggested Wisconsin lawmakers might get in on the bidding frenzy for a new Chicago Bears stadium, noting “The Foxconn site near Kenosha is only 20 minutes from Halas Hall in Lake Forest.”

I’m quite familiar with the roads around Halas Hall and the trip to Kenosha – it’s a much better drive than from there to a stadium in Gary, Indiana. Not only that, but Kenosha is almost exactly as far away from Green Bay’s Lambeau Field as Gary is from Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium – about 153 miles and a 195-minute drive in ideal traffic conditions. There aren’t nearly enough people asking how Colts management feels about Indiana lawmakers opening the piggy bank for an interloping franchise, so surely Packer fans would welcome a second team north of the Cheddar Curtain, right?

(Required reading, from September 2023: “After initial fanfare, Foxconn deal a giant loser for Wisconsin” at tinyurl.com/FoxconnLoser.)

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.